Pronunciation of Iain

[tgau...@my-deja.com]

So I've heard two different pronunciation's of Iain's first name. Iain
the traditional way (but normally spelled Ian?) (eee-an) and Iain (eye-
an).

Does anyone know which is correct?

-t

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
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[Jim Smith]

In article <8tkhn1$18d$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, tgau...@my-deja.com writes

>So I've heard two different pronunciation's of Iain's first name. Iain
>the traditional way (but normally spelled Ian?) (eee-an) and Iain (eye-
>an).

Some would argue that Iain _is_ the traditional way to spell it. In any
case the pronunciation is identical to Ian.
--
Jim Smith

[Ian Kelly]

In article <6rprvso2aq8q04vgq...@4ax.com>, Winsome
<win...@websurf.net.au> writes
>I can't ever recall hearing the eye-an pronounciation before a week ago,
>when I happened to catch an episode of Hollywood Squares on cable TV.
>One of the celebrities was some bloke from 90210, who everyone was
>referring to as Eye-an. "Unusual name, not heard that before", I thought
>to myself as I moved to get a closer look at the telly so I could read
>his name on the screen - Yep - his name was Ian.
>
>Is the eye-an pronounciation common in the States, or anywhere else for
>that matter?

Ian is a very uncommon name in the States. Every time I go to the US I
practically have to spell my name out when I meet someone. The only Ian
I know who is from the States also pronounces it "eee-an".

I might try pronouncing it eye-an next time I'm over there - I might get
some more comprehension.

Ian/Iain is a very common name in the UK, particularly for the 30ish age
group as it was a popular choice in the 60s. The Iain spelling is a
little less common but is pronounced exactly the same.

Ian Kelly

[BlueShift]

Ian Kelly <i...@gekko.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:8+MozIABLf$5Eww$@gekko.demon.co.uk...

> Ian/Iain is a very common name in the UK, particularly for the 30ish age
> group as it was a popular choice in the 60s. The Iain spelling is a
> little less common but is pronounced exactly the same.
>
> Ian Kelly

Yup, its as common as dirt over here in NZ as well. I've met Ians, Iains and
the occasional Eion, all pronounced pretty much the same, except Eion often
(but not always) ends up as eon.

[Douglas Bailey]

i...@gekko.demon.co.uk wrote:

> Ian is a very uncommon name in the States. Every time I go to the US I
> practically have to spell my name out when I meet someone. The only Ian
> I know who is from the States also pronounces it "eee-an".
>
> I might try pronouncing it eye-an next time I'm over there - I might get
> some more comprehension.

Hmm. It must depend *where* in the States you are. I'm in the Boston
(Massachusetts) area; I know several Ians, and all of them pronounce it
"eee-an", as do all the Ians I knew in the UK.

The bloke from _90210_ is the only one I've ever heard use "eye-an"
(which is an earsore if I've ever heard one).

doug

--

--------------douglas bailey (trys...@ne.mediaone.net)--------------
this week dragged past me so slowly; the days fell on their knees...
--david bowie

[Andy Rae]

<tgau...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:8tkhn1$18d$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...

> So I've heard two different pronunciation's of Iain's first name. Iain
> the traditional way (but normally spelled Ian?) (eee-an) and Iain (eye-
> an).

To throw another pronunciation in, not sure how it is spelt, but there is a
welsh version pronounced "Yeye-yan" i.e. the weird pronunciation with a
prefixed y.

andy

[Richard Horton]

On Tue, 31 Oct 2000 14:59:12 +1100, Winsome <win...@websurf.net.au>
wrote:

>I wonder if the reaction you would get might be the flipside to the
>reaction I had - I was thinking "What an odd name "eye-an" is? How the
>hell do you spell that?". As soon as I saw it written, I thought "Oh,
>those funny Americans mean Ian!".
>When you spell your name outloud "I-A-N" to Americans, does a look of
>recognition appear on their faces? Do they think "Oh, he means his name
>is <eye-an>, what a funny accent these British people have"?

It's true that Ian is an uncommon name in the U.S. (we're quite happy
with John, thank you (that was a joke)), but by this time most
Americans have heard the name enough that they (we) pronounce it Ian,
and recognize that pronunciation.

--
Rich Horton | Stable Email: mailto://richard...@sff.net
Home Page: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
Also visit SF Site (http://www.sfsite.com) and Tangent Online (http://www.sfsite.com/tangent)

[Scott Beeler]

Winsome <win...@websurf.net.au> wrote:

>I wonder if the reaction you would get might be the flipside to the
>reaction I had - I was thinking "What an odd name "eye-an" is? How the
>hell do you spell that?". As soon as I saw it written, I thought "Oh,
>those funny Americans mean Ian!".
>When you spell your name outloud "I-A-N" to Americans, does a look of
>recognition appear on their faces? Do they think "Oh, he means his name
>is <eye-an>, what a funny accent these British people have"?

I would really doubt it. I'm an American who would only think of
"Ian" as "eee-an"; I don't think I've ever heard of any "eye-an"
before this discussion. Now "Ian" isn't terribly common in the US,
but still I've heard lots of people saying the name and it's always
"eee-an".

Now "Iain" on the other hand threw me at first. Banks was the first
time I had seen that, and I went around saying "eee-ain" for the
longest while before clueing in.

--
Scott Beeler scbe...@mindspring.com

[Glyndwr]

"Andy Rae" <andy...@cedalion.co.uk> wrote in message
news:svtdq7p...@corp.supernews.com...

You're right. The Welsh version is "Ieuen", pronounced "yih-un" (sort of).
It's from the same root as Iain; Ian, AFAIK, is an English corruption of
that name, but is pronounced the same. I never worked out where Jo(h)n fits
into this, but it's from the same root, too.

--
-=G=-
print join " ",reverse split /\s+/,'hacker. Perl another Just',"\n";
Web: http://www.fscked.co.uk ICQ: 66545073

[Ian Kelly]

In article <MPG.146811434...@nntp.ne.mediaone.net>, Douglas
Bailey <trys...@ne.mediaone.net> writes

>Hmm. It must depend *where* in the States you are. I'm in the Boston
>(Massachusetts) area; I know several Ians, and all of them pronounce it
>"eee-an", as do all the Ians I knew in the UK.

That's interesting, because most of my time in the States has been spent
in California & Arizona. I guess that Boston had a large Irish influx,
carrying the name with it.

I almost gave up the name for the duration of my last visit (and adopted
John). It isn't just my pride or imagination - several colleagues have
commented on how people struggled with it - particularly settings like
restaurants or hotel check-in.

I guess that people are aware of the name - like I'm aware of typically
American names - but are a little thrown off-balance when they hear it.

--
Ian Kelly

[Ian Kelly]

In article <n0esvsgf73f3pfd95...@4ax.com>, Winsome
<win...@websurf.net.au> writes
>Do you have any idea why it was so popular in the '60s? Were parents
>naming their Ians after anyone in particular or was it just a random
>fashionable name at the time?

Random fashionable name I think. My mother didn't want a name that
could be abbreviated for some reason.

Perhaps this is getting a little off-topic?
--
Ian Kelly

[Ian Kelly]

In article <yqDL5.32414$h%4.27...@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com>,
Glyndwr <glynF...@FSCKdeleteEmeD.co.uk> writes

>You're right. The Welsh version is "Ieuen", pronounced "yih-un" (sort of).
>It's from the same root as Iain; Ian, AFAIK, is an English corruption of
>that name, but is pronounced the same. I never worked out where Jo(h)n fits
>into this, but it's from the same root, too.

I always understood that Ian was the Scottish and Iain the Irish variant
of John. However the Ian spelling seems to have become dominant as the
name became popular in England in its own right.

--
Ian Kelly

[Phil Clark]

On Tue, 31 Oct 2000 23:31:31 +0000, Ian Kelly <i...@gekko.demon.co.uk>
wrote:

And I thought that Ian and Iain were both Scottish, but Iain more
Scottish if that makes sense. Isn't the Irish version Eoin,
confusingly pronounced "owen"?

[gina.l...@gmail.com]

I live in the states, of Scottish descent (grandparents). I named my son Ian. Hate when people pronounce it Eye-an. So, in answer to your question, no, it's not common to pronounce it Eye-an in the states. Don't know why anyone does, but people do. The Ian who you saw on TV must have had parents who did not know the proper pronunciation. :)

[gina.l...@gmail.com]

Hmm... I always thought Sean was the Irish variant of John. Am I wrong?

[yati...@gmail.com]

I am from Kenya and I received a phone call from the University of DC, Washington DC, USA. A female voice asked "Hello is that 'eye-an'?" I was surprised and almost said it's a wrong number. I have never heard of that pronunciation in my life! The real pronunciation is [E-an] and we should emphasize that!!!

[iain.m...@hotmail.co.uk]

I'm an Iain, pronounced Eye-in, and Scottish. It's very uncommon where I am (near St. Andrews) but bit more common up in the Highlands. I can understand why people think ee-in but it is a legit way of saying the name. Some people just can't wrap there heads around it though and can be quite rude about it, always calling me 'ee-in' even though they know that's not my name. Not wanting to change people's minds about it, just looking for some open mindedness about it. 😊

[bonzi]

On Saturday, March 26, 2016 at 3:21:22 PM UTC+1, iain.m...@hotmail.co.uk wrote:
> I'm an Iain, pronounced Eye-in, and Scottish. It's very uncommon where I am (near St. Andrews) but bit more common up in the Highlands. I can understand why people think ee-in but it is a legit way of saying the name. Some people just can't wrap there heads around it though and can be quite rude about it, always calling me 'ee-in' even though they know that's not my name. Not wanting to change people's minds about it, just looking for some open mindedness about it. 😊

Well, I suppose that your name is pronounced the way you say it should be - it is *your* name, after all, but the sources I can find say the pronunciation should be /iːən/ (rhimes with Caribbean).

Hear Ian Rankin pronounce it in his tribute around 2:58 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWGCLmUgfXE

Two other sources:
http://www.pronouncenames.com/pronounce/iain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftq6TcB-Da0 (another Iain)

[bonzi]

You are not wrong - the names both correspond to John. According to Wikionary:

"An anglicisation of Eóin, the Gaelic equivalent of the name John. The name originated in Ireland, and was taken from there to Scotland, where the modern form Iain co-exists with it. In Ireland it was largely supplanted by the later forms Seaan, Seón, and Seóan, of which the modern form is Seán (anglicised as Sean)."

[Martin Str|mberg]

> it. ?

Finally an Eye-an. Thank you Iain.

However I'm curious about the second part (-in). Is this i really
pronounced like "in"? I'd have guessed like the unstressed "an" in "an
apple" (but I'm not a native English (Scottish?!) speaker). Or
possibly like "un" in "sun".


Cuuriously the first hit I got on duckduckgo.com for "how to pronounce
Iain" was <https://youtu.be/1WoToDOuIpY> which is an Eye-an. Every
other results seems to be EE-ans.


--
MartinS

[eve_...@yahoo.com]

On the audio portion of the Scottish Gaelic textbook I used a few years back, "Iain" is pronounced differently than I would pronounce "Ian." That is, "Ian" in the United States is "ee-uhn" but "Iain" in Scottish Gaelic sounds to me more like English "ee-yine" or even just "yine".

[iain.s...@gmail.com]

On Monday, October 30, 2000 at 3:21:14 PM UTC-4, tgau...@my-deja.com wrote:
> So I've heard two different pronunciation's of Iain's first name. Iain
> the traditional way (but normally spelled Ian?) (eee-an) and Iain (eye-
> an).
>
> Does anyone know which is correct?
>

> IAIN-t